Don’t judge Covington High students harshly

What is this native American doing insinuating the students from Covington Catholic High School who wore “a hat” and “smiled” were a threat to him? What if the kids were listening to rap music, dancing and wearing a hoodie? Would they too be a threat to native Americans?

Gangs in the street fight over human respect. But these young teens were simply waiting for a school bus after the family-oriented march to defend “every” human life This is a peaceful march to say “we have a right to be here,” similar to Martin Luther King Jr. marches.

Why did some African Americans and others rush in judging the Covington kids? Especially when their kids have been in similar situations with a rush to judge them unjustly.

The left and the mainstream media are “using” them all. Is the voice of this native American greater than the voice of the young? This could have been their kids.

The pope supports the young generation. So where are the bishops? The young Covington kids feel abandoned. Hurt is added to the insults they have endured.

Sylvia Koczwara, Youngstown

Trump resembles cult figure, Rev. Jim Jones

I’m starting to think of President Donald J. Trump as a “Reverend Jim Jones” of the Jonestown massacre of 1978 in South America while his supporters are “drinking the Kool-Aid.”

Trump’s followers appear to have a cultish attachment, overlooking his deceitfulness. A quote of Jim Jones who once threw his Bible to the floor and yelled at his congregation: “Too many people are looking at this (Bible) instead of looking at me!”

I can visualize Trump throwing down the Constitution, saying, “Too many people are looking at this instead of listening to me!”

Trump’s unorthodox leadership is not in line with any former president’s. Meanwhile, our wavering leaders at the Capitol are playing “tit for tat” with party rule, while our adversary, Russia, has pushed ahead with the development of a hypersonic missile that we cannot, at this moment, defend against.

What appears to have happened after the last two years is some Americans seem to be adapting to a “Jim Jones” type leadership. On the blind side of it, it is like “Doctor Strangelove or How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb!”

Paul R. Lawson, McDonald

1% cause massive harm

Democracy is tough for the rich 1 percent; they’ve got most of the money but no more voting power than their yacht captain, chauffeur, housekeepers and nanny, but watch out because they have a plan to fix all of that for themselves. They’re paying for it. The wealthy believe that it is their inherent right to rule or the absolute right to choose who rules. The rich have donated tens of millions of dollars to create right-wing organizations like the Heritage Foundation and ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) that entertain lawmakers at fancy resorts to get them to pass laws that favor them. A multi billionaire named Tom Perkins flat out said that the “rich should get more votes” and he recommended that the “country should be run like a corporation,” and he also said that “if you pay a million dollars in taxes you should get a million votes.” The Republicans along with their billionaire buddies would love to deny the right to vote in federal elections to millions of workers who labor at low-wage jobs.

The 1 percent are purging poor people from voter rolls, curtailing early voting, slashing the number of polling places in poor neighborhoods and requiring excessive identification to vote. The one thing they would really love to do is repeal the 1965 Voting Rights Act.